On the 25th November 2002 a meeting was held in the Beaudesert RSL Club to see if there was enough interest
in forming a local branch of the Association. 13 local nasho’s attended and were addressed by Alex Garlin
and Ray Lower on the advantages of joining the association. As Alex Garlin was unable to form the branch
at this time a four man steering committee (Ian McDougall, Pat Hethorn, John O’Flynn, Mervyn Seiler) was
formed to contact all known nasho’s in our area and invite them to another meeting to be held on the 20th
January 2003.

This meeting was attended by 61 nasho’s and their wives and our branch was formed at this meeting.

The branch has prospered since and we were awarded the Dennis Connon Membership Award Shield at the 2004
Conference at Noosa and again at the 2005 Conference at Rockhampton. This was a great honour. At the 2006
Conference in Brisbane our team won the state inter/branch lawn bowls challenge. We now have 130 members and supporters.

Our branch has made substantial financial contributions to the Wacol Heritage Area, the State Memorial in Toowoomba, the cyclone “Larry” appeal, the National Memorial Fund and in our area 231 Sqn A.A.F.C. and are a major sponsor of our RSL Sub/branches “Australian spirit awards”, which awards bursaries to school children in our district.

We have always been represented at State Conferences, Delegates and General meetings, parades and services.
Some of our members have assisted with the work at Wacol.

We have a variety of activities throughout the year to keep our members involved. Our members enjoy inter/branch activities where they often meet long lost nasho mates. We have organised two medal presentation days where our Federal Member Kay Elson MP presented 53 medals in 2004 and 33 medals in 2005.

We have had many bus trips away,one of special note was a tour of Gallipoli Barracks and the 2/14 QMI Museum there. This was of special interest to us as most of our members were allocated to this unit in our nasho days. We were privileged to be allowed to closely inspect the ASLAV armoured personal vehicles now serving in Iraq. Another trip of note was to Caboolture where their branch provided us with a BBQ lunch at their Wamuran Memorial. We have since returned their hospitality with morning tea and a BBQ lunch when they visited us recently. We have several inter/branch visits planned for this year 2007.

Our branch is indebted to the Beaudesert RSL Sub/branch for all the support they have given us since our formation and we encourage our members to join the Sub/branch.

Compiled by Ian McDougall, Foundation member, Past President, and former Secretary.

[back row] Roy Turner, Vice President;  James Launder, Committee; 
Ian McDougall, Welfare & Membership Officer; Ray Lomax, Committee, Bob Downes, Committee; Phil Johns, Merchandise Officer.
[front seated] Brian Quinn, Treasurer; Doug Eisentrager, Secretary; Russell Hartley, President; Ivan Davis, SMC; Errol Guilfoyle,
Beaudesert RSL Sub-branch President.